


i'll carry these, my children

by Sorunort



Category: Tales of Crestoria
Genre: Almost Main Character Death, Blood, Canon Divergent, Eventual Comfort, Found Family, Gen, Gore, Monster Transformation, Near Death Experience, Torture, Violence, i wrote this before ch7 teaser so uh its inaccurate but at least i was half right, vicious almost dies and has to go full monster to protect the transgressor kiddos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 05:55:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28969425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sorunort/pseuds/Sorunort
Summary: "Y’know, Forte, this reminds me of something. I heard a rumor about the Great Transgressor. Apparently,” Assid said with a smile clear in his voice, verging on a singsong. “He’s a monster in human skin.”Vicious knew if he gave the twins what they wanted he could never return to those warm memories. The party would never be able to look at him the same way again, and Vicious would be alone again as soon as the twins were out of the picture. All the little moments, forever lost and out of reach.But that’s fine. He’s the Great Transgressor.He wasn’t meant to have a family.***in which assid and forte almost take down the great transgressor and give him an ultimatum: reveal your true self, or die.written pre-chapter 7, canon inaccuracies will be present.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	i'll carry these, my children

**Author's Note:**

> "You ask me why I keep them  
> Why I love them so  
> Why they get away with murder  
> As they grow and grow and grow, oh
> 
> I keep them cause I made them  
> They come from in my heart  
> With each mistake I make  
> Created, and torn apart"
> 
> florence and the machine | donkey kosh

Death was a curious thing for someone on the brink of immortality. He had died plenty of times now, but despite any fatal wounds he sustained, Vicious always woke back up. Death came to be more of an inconvenience than an inevitable end the masses hoped to avoid. Whether he was stabbed through the heart or skewered in the abdomen, in mere minutes Vicious got back on his feet. 

Nobody knew _why_ the Great Transgressor was unkillable, least of all Vicious, but nobody stopped to think about it either. Certainly not Vicious. As far as he was concerned, he could fight within an inch of his life and _still_ go wild. He didn’t have a life to lose.

This time Vicious feared he may finally lose that inch.

Beaten and bruised, Vicious laid collapsed on the ground in a crumpled heap. One arm hugged his exposed abdomen, torn open and bleeding out, while the other pathetically reached out for allies he could no longer see. His vision swam, dotted with dark spots. Worst of all he could hardly breathe, each breath a short, shallow gasp for air. 

And he was so, _so_ cold.

Vicious knew these symptoms well enough by now. Any moment now the light in his eyes would fade; _but it’s fine._ Once he healed himself up, he could get back to fighting.

If only his aggressors gave him an opening to recover.

A boot stomped his hand, nearly breaking his fingers, and Vicious’s arm spasmed beneath the heel. Biting back a growl, Vicious _seethed_ and blinked bleary eyes up at one of those _damn_ twins. Telling them apart had already been a challenge, but with his vision impaired it became near impossible. 

One of them— _whoever it was_ — knelt down and applied more force on his crippled hand. He let out a descending whistle and grabbed a fistful of Vicious’s black hair (it was hard to tell whether the red tips were there before or after the blood trickled down his skull and into his mess of hair), yanking his head off the ground. Vicious all but snarled, baring his teeth and squinting to make out who dared add insult to injury.

“ _Maaan_ , you’re still breathing after all that?” He almost seemed impressed, the _bastard_. He hummed lightly, eyes trailing over Vicious’ brutalized form. “I knew they weren’t kidding when they said you were unstoppable, but I really thought I had you with that one!”

Right. The arte that rendered him to his knees, followed up by one of them slicing his stomach open. Everything after that was a blur of hacking, stabbing, and other mutilations. Vicious wasn’t going to admit it but he was a bit surprised he was still alive after being battered to Hell and back. Or rather, he was surprised he hadn’t ‘died’ yet. Normally by now he would’ve already perished and come back to life.

_Is this it?_

His body involuntarily shuddered when his head dropped back into the dirt with a thud.

He hadn’t a chance to try and regenerate yet.

_Am I gonna die for real?_

The thought of dying in a random forest near some no-name town irritated him. If he was going to go out he would rather it be with guns blazing, trying to take out something much larger and more powerful than him. Not huddled in a broken form struggling to breathe.

And what about his companions? Their ragtag little team brought together by the whims of vision orbs and the populace. Outsiders and outcasts, individually trying to figure out what it meant to own their sin and bear its weight. If Vicious was beaten down to his last inch of life, _what about them?_

He couldn’t see, couldn’t hear much beyond his heart thundering away in his ears. He knew they were just a few feet away, but he couldn’t reach no matter how hard he tried in this pitiful state.

“Some _Great_ Transgressor you are.” A different voice scoffed and echoed his own sentiments, belonging to whichever twin wasn’t trying to pulverise the bones in his hand. Finally the boot let up and Vicious grunted as he tried to move his fingers. “You’re all talk but in the end you’re no better than any other transgressor.”

Blinking hard and long, Vicious tried to banish the dark splotches littering his vision and see who was looming above him. It cleared enough for him to make out both silhouettes of the twins.

_Good_ , he thought, not daring to risk a glance at his allies with his _slightly_ restored vision. _I’ve got their attention. They can run._

One of them— _Assid, probably, that seemed right_ — propped his longstaff over his shoulder and shifted his weight on his feet. “Y’know, Forte, this reminds me of something.”

“Oh?” Forte raised his staff and Vicious braced himself, gritting his teeth and seizing up just in time for the gold spiral to slam down and pierce his waist. He groaned and hissed through his teeth and Forte jammed it further into his flesh. Slowly and expertly, he dragged the tip down inside the already torn hole in his stomach. Convulsing, Vicious choked and coughed on his own blood. “Like what, Assid?”

They chatted casually as ever, as though they weren’t trying to cut Vicious in half. “I heard a rumor about the Great Transgressor. _Apparently_ ,” Assid said with a smile clear in his voice, verging on a singsong. “He’s a _monster_ in human skin.”

If his body hadn’t already been going wild trying and failing to stay alive, Vicious was certain in any normal situation he would have felt his stomach do somersaults. But much like he would in any normal situation, he still didn’t react, nor gave them the satisfaction they obviously wanted.

Forte sighed through his nose and withdrew his staff, giving it a little shake to get rid of the blood and _whatever else_ he wrenched from Vicious’ insides. “Please, we all know he’s a monster.”

“ _Hah_ , yeah, yeah, but like!” Assid lowered his weapon off his shoulders and imitated claws with his free hand, making a little swiping motion. “An actual monster! Y’know, with claws and fangs and horns and stuff!”

Forte turned his attention from his brother to the brutalized Transgressor. There was something in his gaze that would give anyone goosebumps. But Vicious wasn’t just anyone, and even though he was at their mercy, he wouldn’t cower or show a smidge of weakness. He’d die with a smile on his lips if he had to.

But it wasn’t Vicious’ lips that curled. It was Forte’s. 

“What do you say we test that theory, brother?” he said smoothly, his single exposed eye glinting with terrifying intent. Vicious wouldn’t show any weakness, but he couldn’t ignore the dread creeping up his spine.

If they wanted to kill him, he’d really rather they do it and be done with it.

“Go on, Vicious,” Forte said and prodded him with the golden spike of his staff, puncturing another wound into his chest. Vicious gagged and involuntarily twisted as Forte continued. “If you’re really a monster, you’ll transform and save yourself.”

“You’ll die if you don’t,” Assid added, much too pleased with himself. “You don’t really wanna go out like this, do you?” He drew back his longstaff and brought it down with a harsh _crack!_ onto the tear Forte made barely a minute prior. “Surely you’ve got unfinished business to attend to.” Another _crack_ , another _thrash_ , another _slam_. “You can’t die here.”

The assault raged on. Forte would rip open a new hole, tear skin, puncture his insides, and Assid followed it up by striking the fresh wounds. Blood spattered with every strike and trickled onto the grass., trapping Vicious in a growing pool of his own blood and, before long, his insides as well. He couldn’t think or summon the strength to move or defend himself. Not with the way those two left him no opportunity to fight back unless they got what they wanted. 

The unkillable Great Transgressor, pulverized in every way imaginable, was truly about to die.

And yet he allowed himself to stare blankly in the direction of his allies. He looked to his comrades he couldn’t see anymore, his vision blacking out entirely. 

He had held Forte and Assid’s attention long enough. If they had the capacity to move despite the earlier fight sapping them of their strength, they should have run by now. That would be the _smart_ thing to do. Anyone with half a brain would leave the Great Transgressor to die. He wouldn’t hold it against them, either. Not when it was what he wanted for them.

They still had _so much_ to do. Kanata was well on his way to changing the world, and Misella backed him up every step of the way. Aegis needed to keep fighting to protect the weak, and Yuna wanted to seek out the truth. They weren’t going to accomplish any of that sitting around waiting for Vicious to get back up.

The Great Transgressor wasn’t worth saving.

Having been assaulted and impaled more times than he could count, Vicious had grown numb to it. So numb that it took him an extra second to realize the twins had finally stopped. 

Maybe they thought he was dead. And _maybe_ he would play dead just to get them off his case. But they were too quiet for that— strangely, unsettlingly quiet. The air seemed to grow tense with the silence until Forte’s voice sliced through it.

“Oh, I get it,” he said slowly, looking from Vicious and off to the direction of his sightless stare. “You won’t do it to save yourself, but _them?_ ” He chuckled to himself and Vicious heard the echo of footsteps. His blood ran like ice in his veins with the realization.

“How selfless, for a _monster_.”

Something _clicked_ . Heaving, Vicious lurched forward, dragging himself across the grass (probably leaving all sorts of disgusting bodily fluids draining from his wounds) and snatching Forte’s ankle. His head swam in a dizzying array, and his breathing labored, but he snarled, “ **_Don’t._ **”

Were he in his glory, any average person would immediately turn tail and run. But it was a lot harder to intimidate someone when bleeding out. Forte easily brushed him aside— rather, kicked his hands away and stepped on them for good measure, laughing all the while. “Can you believe it, Assid? The _monster_ has a heart after all.”

A boot crashed down on his busted rib cage to hold him in place. Vicious writhed but tried clawing his way after Forte regardless of the sharp pain shooting through his body. “Guess it makes sense. They _are_ all transgressors. They’re made for each other.”

Against all odds, brutalized and miserable on the brink of what may be his real death, adrenaline shot through his veins. The Great Transgressor couldn’t accept his demise yet; not if his companions weren’t safe. Despite the boot keeping him in place Vicious struggled to crawl after Forte. 

“ _Don’t_ **_fucking touch them!_ **” Red hot mana tiredly sparked to life around his hands in a desperate attempt to summon his blood sin.

And of course, Assid was right on cue. “Ah, ah, ah,” he scolded and crushed Vicious’ hand under the end of his longstaff. “That’s not what we wanna see, Vicious. Do I really gotta repeat myself here?”

Hissing through his teeth Vicious uselessly tried to tug his hand free, his frustration at the breaking point. He had to do _something_ , _needed_ to get up, but how could he when he was trapped and one wrong move might kill him for real?

Miraculously, or perhaps driven solely by his panic and _need_ to break free, his vision began to clear just enough to make out his surroundings. Bits of grass poked through the black haze and Vicious tried to focus on finding Forte’s whereabouts. 

He didn’t have to search long. Forte stood over what looked like a colorful blob, dragging a fistfull of purple fuzz out from the blob and kicking back a white blur—

_They didn’t run. Why didn’t they run?_

His frustration shattered well past the breaking point and he let out a sharp groan into the blood-stained grass. Forte had Kanata by the hair, hauling him through the mud, and Vicious couldn’t do a _damn thing_ about it. This wouldn’t have happened if they just abandoned him here like he wanted! If his wounds didn’t kill him the stress coursing through him might. Between the blood loss and panic his head was swimming, and the fact he couldn’t do anything for Kanata in his pathetic state only made it worse.

Forte threw the younger transgressor to the ground. Kanata grunted upon impact but paid the twin no mind. Already he was scrambling for the Great Transgressor. 

“ _Vicious—!_ ” His voice boarded on the edge of a scream, and if Vicious weren’t on death's door he might have thought about how weird it was to see someone _concerned_ for him. 

“That’s enough,” Forte said and planted a foot down on his back. Kanata’s cheek met the dirt and he scrunched his face up in disgust and determination. He pushed back up against his captors weight, unaware of Forte raising his staff in preparation.

“You know what has to happen, Vicious.”

The blood-stained gold spire glinted—

“You don’t want to see him _die_ because of you.”

—and swung down.

All he heard was a boy’s scream before his vision went black.

* * *

  
  


Vicious never knew what it meant to be part of a family. He didn’t know who or what made up a family, and he didn’t know how they were supposed to act. For as long as he could remember he was alone, and he resigned himself to that. Flying solo suited him just fine, and that’s all there was to it.

At first he didn’t think much about this over-enthusiastic boy trailing after him like a lost puppy. He would get bored and leave sooner or later. Either that or he would get hurt and leave eventually. Be they a transgressor or average person, nobody liked to stick around the Great Transgressor. But Kanata never left, and next thing Vicious knew he had another kid trailing after him. Less enthusiastic than the first, but suddenly he wasn’t alone anymore.

The party grew in size. Vicious half missed being alone, but with all the excitement he couldn’t bring himself to truly miss the old days. He didn’t have to sleep underground to avoid enforcers anymore; now they had actual _beds_ sometimes. And when they didn’t crash at an inn, the dimly lit campfire was just as comfortable.

Somehow, somewhere along the way, Vicious relaxed a little bit. And perhaps the thing that scared him most was that he _liked_ it.

That didn’t mean he understood it. All he knew was that the company didn’t bother him, and _that_ bugged him. The Great Transgressor wasn’t meant for warm beds and cozy fires, nor egging on a silly fight over who knows what, and all the little things that came with having a family.

He knew what family meant now, and it disturbed him.

Family was bickering with Misella over something nonsensical just because she refused to agree with him on anything. It was telling wild stories with Yuna just to see which insane lie Kanata believed. It was poking and prodding at Aegis until he erupted in an embarrassed mess. It was Kanata falling asleep on his shoulder and _not_ being shoved aside.

Vicious knew if he gave the twins what they wanted he could never return to those warm memories. The party would never be able to look at him the same way again, and Vicious would be alone again as soon as the twins were out of the picture. All the little moments, forever lost and out of reach.

But that’s fine. He’s the Great Transgressor.

He wasn’t meant to have a family.

* * *

  
  


Hot crimson runes akin to a blood sin’s erupted beneath Vicious. They glowed bright and burning, pulsating along to the beat of his heart. The light enveloped him, and within that light Vicious’ body morphed and changed shape. 

Streaks of red illuminated under his skin from his forearm to fingers, his nails growing in size until they formed three orange-tipped claws. Like a snake shedding its skin, his flesh burst and cracked, giving way to foul pools of murky purple and black mana. The muscles in his back contorted until spikes ruptured from his curled form, jutting like blades down his spine.

Slowly he got off his arms and to his feet, now morphed into the ugly shape of animalistic hindlegs bearing the same orange-tipped claws. A long jagged tail with two curved points on the end extended from the spikes on his spine. His face stretched into a pointed snout and two bright red horns resembling his stain erupted from his forehead, each pulsating with the same mana as the runes around him.

Said runes gradually faded and died down into nothing once the transformation completed. But with every huff and pant deep red mana billowed out from his nostrils like smoke. 

The Great Transgressor, finally unveiling his true form, was nothing more than a hideous beast. A monster only found in the depths of Hell, unlike any creature found on earth. An unsightly creature, one that any sane person would take one look at and _run_.

And he locked his pure red eyes onto the very two people who drove him to this point.

_(Don’t look at Kanata. The terror in his eyes would hurt worse than any stab wound.)_

With renewed strength, or perhaps merely riding his last wind before dying, Vicious hunched up his shoulders and curled his lips back in a low growl; a _warning_. 

Assid and Forte both stood there in awe and horror, knuckles wound tight around their individual staffs, still barely registering the abomination before them.

Well, he warned them.

A deafening roar tore from the creature, and he _lunged_.

Everything from then on was a blur to Vicious. It felt as though he was moving in slow motion, only vaguely aware of when the twins attacked him, or when he batted their staffs aside like they were toys. He moved on instinct and pure desire to lay waste to whoever caused this. Whoever _dared_ hurt Kanata.

(He still hadn’t looked at the young transgressor. He didn’t want to.)

Somewhere in the back of his mind, the part that wasn’t running solely on vengeance, Vicious assumed his injuries contributed to the haze he was in. Normally transforming would be out of the question, but the twins forced his hand. The strain of his body morphing into that of a monster’s had torn his wounds open deeper than ever before. If by some miracle he could have survived in his human form, the transformation would definitely kill him now.

What a way to go out; dying for a few outsiders they picked up along the way. Not quite the flashy end Vicious preferred, but he’d take it anyway.

At some point in the fight his tail whacked and sent the two of them flying into a tree. Their staffs laid broken under his claws, and without their weapons they had nothing left to defend themselves. 

Forte grimaced and held out an arm to stop Assid from going back at it. They mumbled to each other, then shouted some kind of phrase that was lost to him. Likely telling him ‘ _this isn’t over, Great Transgressor!_ ’ like his enemies often did. Were he not on death’s door, Vicious might just have been able to hear their defeated cries beneath his labored breathing.

The twins fled into the forest and Vicious watched until he couldn’t see them anymore. Only then did one of his legs collapse under him and his eyelids grew so, _so_ heavy. 

The monster let out a long keen as the rest of his body caved in. He fell on his side with a loud _thud!_ and he let his head loll to the side. His breathing slowed and Vicious’ eyes steadily blinked, blinked, then slid shut. There was a noise off in the distance but he couldn’t decipher what it was. All he knew was that he drove the two away, and Kanata was out of harm's way.

That’s alright. For a transgressor, an abomination, with nothing to his name, that’s alright.

* * *

  
  


A throbbing pain in Vicious’ head brought him to his senses. His face twitched and lips parted to inhale sharply, only to exhale much slower. He cracked his bleary eyes open to a blur of purple and yellow, and he tried to blink his vision clear as best he could around what felt like the world’s worst headache imaginable.

A headache that only amplified when the noise picked up. “...—king up!”

“Give him some space!”

Pain throbbed against his skull with every word. A deep, annoyed sigh left him and Vicious’ face scrunched up, squeezing his eyes shut. “Shaddup… five more minutes.”

There was a brief silence and Vicious _almost_ thought he could fall back asleep until another voice chimed in. “He’s fine. Let’s not worry about him any more.”

“Misella…”

“What? He said he wanted five more minutes. I’m being nice to him. … For now.”

“We really oughta make sure he’s okay, though…”

“That’s the most Vicious thing he could have said, he’s fine.”

“ _But—_ ”

“ _Oh_ , wouldja can it already?” Vicious groaned. “Fine, whatever, I’m up, I’m up.” He tried to raise an arm to rub his temples but found it was trapped under his jacket, lightly tossed across his body. Pins and needles shot up his arm from the motion, and he couldn’t hide the wounded hiss he released as he gradually lowered his arm back down. 

Now that he had blinked the sleep away, Vicious could make out his surroundings. They were in the same forest as before, except they must have dragged his body out to a clearing, resting him underneath a tree. As he looked around he could see just how much damage he had caused fighting the twins. Scorch marks from magic blasts stretched across the grass, and the trees were scored from either his claws or tail. There was nothing but ruin as far as he could see.

To his delayed surprise, he wasn’t a monster anymore. Although, also to his surprise, he wasn’t expecting to still be alive either. He didn’t know when he changed back but he assumed it had to be when he passed out. Hard to believe anyone in their party could heave the body of a beast under a tree. Still, that raised another question.

Why were they still here?

Better yet, why were they taking care of him?

Kanata cleared his throat and Vicious turned his attention to him. The boy was knelt beside him, Misella situated a little behind him, hands anxiously working in his lap as he inspected every inch of Vicious’ face. “Um… how are you feeling?”

Vicious gaped at him, the words stalling in his brain. 

He should be _dead._ He had turned into a monster and back, risked losing the only semblance of family he ever knew, and yet Kanata wanted to know _how he was feeling?_

“...Just _dandy_ , thanks.” He grumbled, nodding to the jacket splayed over his torso. “What’s up with this?”

Aegis spoke up, seated at his opposite side with Yuna directly next to him. “Ah, my apologies. We ran out of bandages and had to use your coat instead. I was against it, but we were running out of options and...” He hesitated, chewing his lip as he stared at the black fabric. “You were bleeding _a lot_.”

Bemused, Vicious opened and closed his mouth, trying to understand where they were coming from. They used their entire supply of bandages on him? He would have laughed if it weren’t for the fact it’d cause him so much pain. 

“Why?” he spat. “Y’know I can jus’ patch myself up, right? Don’t waste yer shit on me—”

“ _You weren’t healing, Vicious._ ”

Any argument died in his throat. Aegis pursed his lips and his shoulders tensed. His hands clenched into tight fists, and Vicious could tell he was trying his best to stay calm and refrain from yelling. “...We _know_ you can,” he said, a touch gentler but still strained. “But when you… _changed back_ , the bleeding didn’t stop.”

Oh. Oh, _shit._ That never happened before.

He shouldn’t be surprised, he wasn’t— _not really_ , it made sense with how he _should be dead right now_. Sighing through his nose Vicious leaned his head back and stared into the canopy of leaves towering above them. “Gimme like a day, it’ll be fine.”

“ _Ça va aller, mon cul!_ ” Yuna scolded. Kanata flinched at her sharp tone and Aegis leaned back to stay out of her way, but Vicious didn’t move. He only rolled his eyes to watch her as she continued. “We thought you were _dead_ , Vicious! Zis is not nothing!” She faltered, gazing at the jacket pressed to his wounds. “And we couldn’t do anything to ‘elp when you needed us… We only made it worse for you.”

Vicious grit his teeth and looked back at the trees.

“Yuna’s right,” Kanata tentatively chimed in. “I feel like this is our fault. Or… mine, at least. I’m sor—”

“Then ya shoulda _ran_.”

No one dared to speak, nor to breathe. The air around them chilled with Vicious’ icy tone. Beneath the jacket his fingers curled into tight fists. Had his nails been any sharper they would’ve sliced into his palms and he’d lose even _more_ blood.

“I had their attention. You all had plenty of time to hobble outta there but ya decided to stay and watch the show. So don’t gimme that crap about who’s fault it is when all you had to do was _run_.”

He couldn’t look at them. He didn’t want to. His chest hurt unlike anything Assid and Forte unloaded on him. Looking at their faces would just make it all the more unbearable.

The group was silent as Vicious’ words washed over them, and Misella was the first to break it. Her voice was quiet, but steady and sure. “You don’t believe that, Vicious.”

Letting out a short huff meant to be a laugh he grinned and dropped his chin to his chest. “I don’t wanna hear this from the pyro tryna off me every chance she—”

“I’m serious, Vicious, you don’t want us to leave you.”

“Shut up.”

“We stayed because you’re important to us, and you protected us because—”

“Shut _up!_ ”

“ _—we’re important to you._ ”

“I said, _shut up!_ ” He snarled and jerked his head up, fangs bared and emotions laid out for all to see. Reacting so aggressively all but confirmed everything Misella said. She scowled back at him but he could see it in her eyes: he was transparent and she saw right through him.

The hurt in his chest magnified and Vicious bit his lip and darted his eyes to the ground. There was no use trying to deny it, not when Misella and everyone else knew the truth. But he didn’t _want_ to accept it. How could he? He’s the _Great Transgressor,_ he’s not _meant_ for good things. He told himself that over and over again until his head spun, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

How could he possibly allow himself this one thing? It’s all too good to be true. They saw what he really was deep down and still decided to patch his wounds. They noticed he wasn’t regenerating and used their entire supply of bandages on him. Nobody in their right mind would go to such lengths for the Great Transgressor. So it can’t be real.

_Please._ Anything to keep him from facing the possibility that they might still leave after dangling _acceptance_ in front of him. If they did that it may actually kill him this time. 

“Vicious,” came Kanata’s voice. Vicious allowed himself to open his eyes and meet his gaze. He hadn’t realized, but Kanata had pulled his hand out from under the jacket and grasped it tightly in his own smaller grip.

Small, but calloused and bearing a stain. He was too young to be a transgressor. Too young to be carrying the weight of sin on his shoulders.

“Vicious, it’s okay,” he said quietly. “I don’t care if you’re a monster.”

“Nobody ‘ere does,” Yuna added gently.

“You risked everything to save me, and...” Kanata cracked a little smile. “...It’d be pretty awful of me to just run away after that, huh?”

“We’re not going to leave you, so I’m afraid you’re stuck with us,” Aegis said in that uptight, matter-of-fact way of his, but Vicious could see a hint of a smile forming.

“Well, I don’t want you to die like this,” Misella mumbled, staring off to the side before begrudgingly looking at him. “So I’ll put up with you for a while longer.”

The hurt in his chest fluttered and spread, stretching so thin until it felt like something Vicious couldn’t even begin to place. Relief? Joy? He didn’t know how to process it, and he wasn’t about to try with everyone staring at him. So he smiled thinly and chuckled. “Man, I must really be slipping if ya’ll are breakin’ out the sappy shit, huh.”

Kanata giggled along, “Guess so.”

Yuna clapped her hands. “I believe we’ve embarrassed ‘im enough today, let's let ‘im rest some more.”

“I believe there’s a town nearby,” Aegis hummed, bringing a finger to his chin. “We may be able to restock on bandages and medicine there. Kanata, would you like to come with me?”

“Oh, yeah!” He chirped and released Vicious’ hand before hopping to his feet. “We’ll be back soon Vicious so, uh, don’t move!”

Vicious groaned, “I’m tellin’ you, one day and I’ll be fine.”

Aegis narrowed his eyes. “We are going to get you new bandages and that is final.”

Serious as ever. His eyes glinted and Vicious leaned his head back. “Damn, someone’s all ready to wait on me. You been dyin’ for someone incapacitate me or what?”

“Maybe we _should_ leave him to die, Aegis,” Misella said, her eyes bearing into his soul. It would make anyone uncomfortable but Vicious was too exhausted, emotionally and physically, to be affected. “It would shut him up. _For good_.”

Aegis stared at her silently, judging whether or not to answer that, before shaking his head and getting to his feet. “I can’t imagine we’ll be much longer than two hours. Try not to kill him while we’re gone.”

Yuna shooed Aegis along before focusing back on Misella, smiling sweetly. “Ah, Mademoiselle, zere should be a beast in zese parts zat ‘ave ze makings for a _magnifique_ roast.”

Immediately Misella turned to Yuna, her eyes wide and practically sparkling. “A… roast?” she glanced between Vicious and Yuna as if to weigh her options, then shot Vicious one last look as if to say ‘ _You’re spared for now_ ’ before getting to her feet. Her blood sin flashed to life and flames lapped at her fingers. “I’ll have it on a spit before the boys get back.” 

With the party separated the only ones left were Vicious and Yuna. The journalist inched her way up to him and settled against the tree trunk beside him. He thought she might strike up a conversation but all she did was place her hand over his and close her eyes, a content smile on her face.

And it was with that the exhaustion hit him full force. His eyelids grew heavy and he released a long breath, allowing them to shut. Yuna’s hand gently squeezed his in reassurance and it helped convince him this _wasn’t_ a dream. Vicious knew he could fall asleep and when he woke up everyone would be huddled around a tiny fire prepping dinner and waiting for him.

Maybe he _was_ meant for one good thing.

**Author's Note:**

> noooo vicious dont turn into a huge monster youre so sexy ahahahah


End file.
